Regarding the new research and developments, Universities like UNSW across the world receive various funds from donors like Vitalik Buterin
Co-founder of smart contract enabled blockchain network Vitalik Buterin has made donations to USD Coin or USDC stablecoin worth $4 million to the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Vitalik donated the fund to support the university in the development of a tool dedicated to pandemic detection. This amount equates to almost 5.3 million Australian Dollars, which is a part of the self-described anti-COVID effort moonshot of Buterin, dubbed as Balvi Filantropic Fund, in collaboration with the popular memecoin Shiba Inu project and Crypto Relief.
Further, the funds will also support the development of EPIWATCH tools that create early warning signs about pandemics while utilizing open-source data and artificial intelligence. The tool created by Raina Maclntyre, professor of Kirby Institute and Biosecurity Research, scans millions of publicly available data online. It collects data from news reports and social media in order to detect any needed changes that could be necessary while countering health concerns.
Ethereum co-founder pointed out the importance of data sharing in an open and decentralized manner in order to speed up the detection of pandemic-type situations. He said that open analysis of publicly available data is an outstanding alternative to more unwanted monitoring forms that are often only available to high bidders and governments but closed publicly. Further, he added that an open access and open source approach by which researchers get allowed by contrast, including public members, to collaborate all over the world could be easily scaled and improved to detect any new pandemics regardless of the origin they begin from.
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The recent funding to the University of New South Wales will be allocated to the Shiba Inu Open Source Intelligence or OSINT, a new initiative led by the Kirby Institute of UNSW. Professor Maclntyre said about the project that the idea was to make the tool more accessible at the grassroots level and make sure that it covers enough languages that could reach small towns and villages worldwide.
She further said that if someone, in an imaginary situation, had detected the COVID-19 before its spreading out in the world, this is the vision of this project. Using artificial intelligence and open source data available in real-time, EPIWATCH does not need to depend on people to make reports. This could act as a great equalizer and even overcome the weaknesses of health systems and censorships.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/05/13/why-did-ethereum-co-founder-vitalik-buterin-donate-4m-worth-of-usdc-to-the-university-of-nsw/